College; some look for the experience to open their minds in extending their educations; as others look at it as the first step towards adulthood and running away from home as fast as possible. Sororities and fraternities have been around for decades with America’s blind eye turned towards the injustices that encompass the stigma. Student hazing deaths are climbing and something has to change to prevent these actions. What will it take to change fraternity culture?
Evelyn and Jim Piazza’s son, Tim died last February 2016 after a frat hazing ritual at Penn State University. Tim, a Beta Theta Pi pledge had been forced to drink a toxic amount of alcohol and then tumbled head first down a flight of stairs. “His fraternity ‘brothers’ then placed
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Students are getting sexually assaulted and even dying because the federal government does not track hazing incidents. The Piazza family wants Penn State University to take more steps that include providing students a way to report such incidences anonymously in real time. University leaders describe the challenge of reforming fraternity culture as a balancing act. Schools have taken steps to limit alcohol and mandate anti-hazing workshops, but these tragedies continue to occur with alarming regularity …show more content…
I believe that the fraternity experience can be one of sister/brotherhood and acceptance. They also help out many causes and donate lots of money to charities and organizations. My legal personal analysis on the death of Tim Piazza is sad. I highly doubt members of Beta Theta Pi will be criminally charged. Many stupid mistakes were made that night by all, including Tim. A brilliant life was lost and his family will never get him back. Time will pass and stricter rules will be enforced but eventually, things will go back to the same ways. His fraternity brothers will always live with the secrets and guilt they shared on that fatal February 2016
A common myth is that hazing is a “reality” in Frats and sororities. We've all seen it in movies and we've all heard stories from our friends. Hazing can be defined as people or individuals who are forced to do something that is psychologically, physically, or emotionally harmful or damaging (Merriam Webster). Greek organizations all over the world have taken steps in developing human rights policies and strict “anti-hazing” policies to get rid of hazing in all forms from all campuses and fraternities. In the 1980s the movie “Animal House”, became a hit. The movie’s “mocking” of the wild side of fraternity life: binge drinking, hazing, sexual harassment, wild parties, drug use, and poor living conditions, became the American public’s view of Greek life. Many television movies and shows depict the ‘crazy side,’ of Greek life and choose to show its negative side. In doing so, many movies and shows do forget to showcase the beneficial side of joining a Sorority or fraternity and show its positive
When undergraduates become interested in Greek life, they have to decide if the advantages outweigh the risks. In the news, the public hears the negative side of Greek life such as the students in sororities and fraternities passing away from alcohol abuse, or colleges such as Indiana University suspending fraternities on campus for hazing and alcohol violations until March 2018. While many negative topics about Greek life are prominent in the news, not all sororities and fraternities experience hazing and illegal problems. Although both advantages and disadvantages arise on college campuses within Greek life, undergraduate students usually benefit from being a part of a sorority or fraternity and are able to create a healthy environment and community to learn, work, and live in.
Reitman acquires information that in 2010, a first year student by the name of Andrew Lohse, pledged to a fraternity called Sigma Alpha Epsilon which disclosed the traditions of Greek hazing. The article elaborately describes the acts of hazing new pledges must face. “One brother recalls the night some of the pledges were served a scramble of vomit and eggs, known as a ‘vomlet’” (356). Lohse unveiled all of the hazing events that he had been involved with for nearly two years, until it had become clear that
This is also with life, to help the stereotype of greek turn to a good one each the fraternities will have to hold each other accountable. This means competing to be the best fraternity on campus. Instead of competing on who throws the best parties compete to see who can raise the most money, or who can have the most new members. One big competition now on campus is GPA and you can see that it has a positive affect because one of the big selling points when new students come and they are being educated on greek life it is the higher GPA. To make greek life have a good reputation it would have to start small. If every fraternity challenged their members to not be the guy that does one thing and messes it up, and if it does happen to give consequences and make it known that we are better than the decisions one guy
In February 2017, Tim Piazza died as a result of hazing within his fraternity. In the article “Death at a Penn State Fraternity”, Caitlin Flanagan summarizes the death and events beforehand that made the death occur. She also gives insight as to other occurrences in other fraternities along with at Penn State. Throughout the article, Flanagan seems to rely on life being valuable and that life should not be cut short for social reasons within one’s control. Caitlin Flanagan provides meaningful commentary to help others realize the dangers affiliated with hazing and other “social norms”.
The differences between interactions of social events are derived from people feeling secure and protected verses feeling threatened and helpless. Campus settings are interrupted as high-risk environments for rape culture and are seen to promote sexual aggression from the dominant groups. When looking at systemic factors in the problem we can see how fraternities create guideline that follow in the traditions of perpetuating rape culture. Men who participated in fraternity living arrangements are encouraged to interact and bond with like-minded members. Often these brothers are not encouraged to develop or share experiences with others outside of the fraternity. This level of involvement embraces the dominant cultural beliefs or values to be see as a way of life. Without being able to experience healthy and diverse situation these people are
Often partying, drinking, and hazing are key words that come to mine when talking about fraternities and sororities. “Since 1975, there has been at least one hazing-induced death per year across college campuses—and 82% of these have come as a result of binge drinking” (Glass, Nicole). Greek life leads to a culture of alcohol and drug abuse. Young, inexperienced drinkers find themselves running into trouble when trying to fit in around alcohol. Also there are some organizations that partake in “forcing new members to drink as much as possible” as part of a right of passage (“Joining”). The drinking habits being learned due to Greek life cause a serious threat to a student’s life in the present and in the future. Statistically, “75% of fraternity members engaging in heavy drinking compared with 49%” of non-fraternity members (“15”). Also like fraternity men, “62% of sorority members engage in binge drinking compared with 41%” of non-sorority women (“15”). The likelihood that members in Greek life are more likely to suffer from substance abuse after graduation scare away the timid potential new
On November 20, 2015, 18-year-old Milan Jackson died as a result of a 30-foot fall off the clock tower located on top of the Student Center of Columbus University. Her death occurred while she was trying to join a (co-ed) fraternity, Phi Gamma. Milan was a freshman who had only one friend who followed her to college, with no friends and family Milan chose to join a fraternity in attempts to make friends. Before her death, Milan Jackson was constantly harassed and abused by the fraternity, the fraternity leader even went as far as to offer positions to Milan in exchange for sexual acts. After truly thinking about the situation Milan was in one must ask themselves should a person in charge of an organization be able to make such statements and
The Greek communities that have risen across the country have created huge impacts on every university that they have established themselves on. Historically, fraternities were designed for students to discreetly meet to discuss issues and host debates that their members believed would be deemed inappropriate by their collegiate faculties. Since their founding, fraternities and sororities have completely revamped their focuses. They are used as social, professional, and honorary organizations that promote many different combinations of community service, leadership, and academic success. The ideas of brotherhood and sisterhood have also transcended the college experience,
Hazing in universities across the nation has become an increasingly dangerous ritual that is seemingly becoming more difficult to put an end to due to its development into an "underground" activity. Though a regular activity in the seventies, hazing, a possible dangerous act of initiation to a group, has now become an activity that is banned in thirty-nine states (Wagner 16). However, this ritual has not been stopped or become less severe. In fact it is becoming more dangerous. Since it has been banned, with many colleges imposing their own penalties against those participating in it, many fraternities and sororities have pursued this activity in an underground fashion. Since these groups have gone underground, some victims of these
Hazing in universities across the nation has become an increasingly dangerous ritual that is seemingly becoming more difficult to put an end to due to its development into an “underground” activity. Though a regular activity in the seventies, hazing, a possible dangerous act of initiation to a group, has now become an activity that is banned in thirty-nine states (Wagner 16). However, this ritual has not been stopped or become less severe. In fact it is becoming more dangerous. Since it has been banned, with many colleges imposing their own penalties against those participating in it, many fraternities and sororities have pursued this activity in an underground fashion. Since these groups have gone underground, some victims of these
Recently, the idea of partaking in a fraternity has become more prevalent. Young adults are captivated with wanting to live the Greek life. The clothes and parties seem to drawn in teens like a magnet. However what these teens do not realize is the terrible things associated with fraternities. Many fraternities have a reputation for turning college students into drunks, treating women vulgarly, enacting violent hazing against other fraternity members and disrupting the true reason why students go to college. For these reasons fraternities should be banned altogether on college campuses.
College hazing has been going on for years. It started in 1495 in a college in Germany. But today, 1.5 million high school students are hazed each year; 47% of students came to college already having experienced hazing. Alcohol consumption, humiliation, isolation, sleep-deprivation, and sexual acts are hazing practices common across all types of student groups (Hirschlag). Everybody knows hazing exist, but nobody seems to talk about it. Sometimes the victims suffer humiliation, debasement and harassment, with no choice (www.hazingprevention.org). That’s why someone needs to talk about hazing and why colleges really need to take another look at this big problem.
In claiming that another resultant of hazing prepares pledges for impending emotional, mental, and physical pain that will appear during their adulthood, they persuade others to view hazing as they do. When pledges complete their hazing it brings forth unity amongst the brothers and sisters. Not only do they see hazing as a means of bringing people together, but also for “weed[ing] out people who don’t want to take the process seriously” (“Arguments For and Against”). No social group wants to have a member who does not commit his or herself to the fraternity or sorority. So higher-status members feel the task of deciding who takes fraternity and sorority matters seriously bears on their shoulder alone. Pro-hazing individuals believe hazing sets up a positive system of the deciding factor of who stays and goes. Overall they believe that hazing benefits either the new pledge or the fraternity and sorority system as a whole.
In my last essay I began with a definition of hazing. Hazing refers to cruel and absurd tasks given to “pledges” or students who are yearning to be initiated into a greek organization. These tasks usually result in physical punishments and abuse from the brothers, degrading the pledges. Hazing has been used in greek organizations for many years now, many incidents where a student took things one notch to far have been slide under the rug and kept secret for many years. This information recently being brought to light due to the growing number in deaths and injuries due to hazing. Getting to develop a very close friendship with a group fraternity brothers on campus has made aw Through these friendships I have gotten to see how the